Power from the sun drives her business
Entrepreneur lays groundwork for green energy here
By David Wichner
ARIZONA DAILY STAR 6/15/09
Something of a reluctant pioneer in the local renewable-energy industry, Katharine Kent helped her home-builder dad realize his vision of starting a solar- energy business.
More than a decade later, The Solar Store is still going strong even as new competitors pour into the market to take advantage of a renewable-energy boom.
A Tucson native, Kent, 50, got a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Houston in 1986. After a stint with Dow Chemical Co. in Houston, she returned to Tucson in 1985 to work as an engineer at the University of Arizona’s Environmental Research Lab and later earned a UA master’s degree in nuclear and energy engineering.
After an environmentalcleanup firm she worked for was acquired and closed operations here in 1997, Kent said she “grudgingly” attended a meeting in 1998 that her dad, local home-builder John Wesley Miller, had called with local contractors and others to discuss starting a solar-energy business. Kent — who also holds an MBA from the UA — wound up offering to help with a business plan. After seeing some business potential, she later agreed to become co-owner of the business with her father and solar-industry veteran Jerry Samaniego.
Kent is now president and sole owner of the company, after buying out Samaniego in 2000 and her father in 2004.
We caught up with Kent at The Solar Store, still at its original — and somewhat cramped — quarters at 2833 N. Country Club Road, and asked her about her business and the state of the renewables industry.
Q: Why did you decide to go into the solar-energy business in Tucson?
A: I could have made a lot more money being a chemical engineer. But for me, the focus has always been on energy savings and understanding the bigger implicationof energyuse. . . . So it seemed like a natural extension to get into the part of the industry that would be able to save energy by using this endless resource of the sun.
Q: What’s your business philosophy and strategy for keeping your company healthy?
A: Have fun, hire and keep the best employees and continue to provide the best value to the consumer.
Originally, because of my relationship with SAHBA (the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association) — my grandfather and father both being past presidents of SAHBA — I felt the new-home-construction market was not being approached. And so in the year 2000,it became part of my company’s values to engage the newconstruction industry. . . .
To be able to incorporate solar from the beginning, and making it an issue that new-home buyers are looking for, I think was really fundamental at moving this thing forward.
Q: With the big push for renewables now, with state and federal tax credits and mandates, how is the solar and renewables business changing?
A: A lot of people that might not have normally been interested (in renewables) are now becoming interested on the consumer end. Our job still requires a tremendous amount of education, and that’s all good.
I think the other thing we’ve seen — and at this point it’s been a much bigger problem in the Phoenix area — is a lot of very questionable sales techniques coming in the market by different businesses that have not been in the industry before.
Q: Does the state require a specific state contractor license for solar-electric (photovoltaic)- system installers?
A: No. In fact, two weeks ago a group of us got together with Director (Bill) Mundell of the Registrar of Contractors office, to talk to him specifically about that. There is a separate (license) designation for solar hot water, but not for photovoltaic.
So we’re looking at trying to develop some sort of (licensing) program. I’m a member of the Arizona Solar Energy Advisory Council, and I happen to be the chair of the subcommittee that defines the rules.
Contact Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at 573-4181 or dwichner@azstarnet.com.
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